Read Only Schema in Oracle APPS 11i

In this article I have discussed how to create and maintain a read only schema for APPS in Oracle eBusiness Suite.

Whilst in the past I have known clients to implement this using synonyms. However the approach discussed below is designed without the need of having to create a single synonym in APPS_QUERYschema.

Step 1  
Create the read-only schema, in this case lets call it APPS_QUERY.

Step 2. 
Surely, the schema created in above Step 1 will be given read only grants to objects in apps. There will be cases where the grant command might fail. To monitor such failures  create a table as below
conn xx_g4g/&2 ;
--For APPS_QUERY. This table will capture the exceptions during Grants
PROMPT create table XX_GRANTS_FAIL_APPS_QUERY
create table XX_GRANTS_FAIL_APPS_QUERY (
        object_name VARCHAR2(100)
       ,sqlerrm varchar2(2000)
       ,creation_date DATE
        );

grant all on XX_GRANTS_FAIL_APPS_QUERY to apps with grant option;

grant select on XX_GRANTS_FAIL_APPS_QUERY to apps_query ;

Step 3
In this step we grant select on all the existing views and synonyms in apps schema to apps_query.

conn apps/&1 ;

PROMPT This can take upto 15-30 minutes
PROMPT Granting SELECT on All synonyms and views to apps_query
DECLARE
--One off script to execute grants to apps_query
  v_error VARCHAR2(2000);
BEGIN

  FOR p_rec IN (SELECT *
                FROM   all_objects
                WHERE  owner = 'APPS'
                AND    object_type IN ('SYNONYM', 'VIEW')
                AND    object_name NOT LIKE '%_S')
  LOOP
    BEGIN
      EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'grant select on ' || p_rec.object_name ||
                        ' to apps_query';
    EXCEPTION
      WHEN OTHERS THEN
        v_error := substr(SQLERRM, 1, 2000);
        INSERT INTO bes.XX_GRANTS_FAIL_apps_query
          (object_name
          ,SQLERRM
          ,creation_date
          )
        VALUES
          (p_rec.object_name
          ,v_error
          ,sysdate
          );
    END;
  END LOOP;
  COMMIT;
END;
/

Step 4 
Write a after logon trigger on apps_query schema. The main purpose of this trigger is to alter the session to apps schema, such that the CurrentSchema will be set to apps for the session(whilst retaining apps_query restrictions).In doing so your logon will retain the permissions of apps_query schema(read_only). Howerver it will be able to reference the apps objects with exactly the same name as does a direct connection to apps schema.


conn apps/&1 ;
PROMPT CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER xx_apps_query_logon_trg
CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER xx_apps_query_logon_trg
--16Jun2006 By Anil Passi
--Trigger to toggle schema to apps, but yet retaining apps_query resitrictions
--Also sets the org_id
  AFTER logon ON apps_query.SCHEMA
DECLARE
BEGIN
  EXECUTE IMMEDIATE
          'declare begin ' ||
          'dbms_application_info.set_client_info ( 101 ); end;';
  EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'ALTER SESSION SET CURRENT_SCHEMA =APPS';
END;
/

Step 5
Create a Trigger on the apps schema to issue select only grants for all new views and synonyms. Please note that I am excluding grants for sequences. SELECT grants for views and synonyms will be provided to apps_query as and when such objects are created in APPS. Please note that, all the APPS objects (views and synonyms) that existed in APPS schema prior to the implementation of this design, would have been granted read-only access to apps_query in Step 2.

conn apps/&1 ;
PROMPT CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER xx_grant_apps_query
CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER xx_grant_apps_query
--16Jun2006 By Anil Passi
--
  AFTER CREATE ON APPS.SCHEMA
DECLARE
  l_str VARCHAR2(255);
  l_job NUMBER;
BEGIN
  IF (ora_dict_obj_type IN ('SYNONYM', 'VIEW'))
     AND (ora_dict_obj_name NOT LIKE '%_S')
  THEN
    l_str := 'execute immediate "grant select on ' || ora_dict_obj_name ||
             ' to apps_query";';
    dbms_job.submit(l_job, REPLACE(l_str, '"', ''''));
  END IF;
END;
/


Some notes for this design
Note1  
You need to ensure that the schema created in Step 1 has very limited permissions. Most importantly it must not be given grant for “EXECUTE/CREATE ANY PROCEDURE”. You will need to agree with your DBAs upfront for the permissions,

Note 2
Only views and synonyms will be granted access. Objects in your xx_g4g(bespoke) schema should have their synonyms in apps already in place.

Note 3
If your site has multi org enabled, you will then have to set the org I'd after loggiong on to apps query schema. In case you have only one single ORG_ID, then would have been set as in Step 4 above.

Note 4 
ALTER SESSION SET CURRENT_SCHEMA =APPS
This facilitates users to run their queries as if they were connected to apps schema. However, their previliges will be restricted to those of apps_query

Note 5
It is assumed that ALTER SESSION privilege will exist for APPS_QUERY schema.